Nine years after the Nagoya World Biodiversity Conference in 2010, the international community as a whole has acknowledged the failure: scientific assessments show that biodiversity degradation is increasing and that the pressures threatening it are not decreasing, quite the contrary. Almost none of Aichi's biodiversity targets will be achieved by 2020.
However, the erosion of biological diversity threatens the quality and living conditions of current and future generations, with a major impact on many economic activities, food security and cultural diversity. The reasons for this decline are man-made: artificialisation of soils and ecosystems, overexploitation of renewable natural resources, invasive alien species, pollution, climate change...
In response to these challenges, the Conferences of the Parties (COPs) to the Convention on Biological Diversity bring together every two years the 196 signatory States to define concrete commitments to achieve the biodiversity targets set.
Preparing for COP15 and the post-2020
At the end of 2018, COP14 in Sharm-el-Sheikh laid the foundations for the road to Beijing to prepare, with all stakeholders - States, civil society, local authorities, economic actors, local communities, scientists... - a new agreement that must be pragmatic and ambitious.
France will play an important role in this road to Beijing 2020. In particular, it will host, at UNESCO Headquarters, the 7th plenary meeting of IPBES - the intergovernmental science-policy platform on biodiversity and ecosystem services equivalent to what the IPCC represents for climate - from 29 April to 4 May 2019; from 11 to 19 June 2020 it will also host, in Marseille, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) World Congress. This is why all the French actors involved in this theme are launching a cycle of reflections to help make Beijing 2020 a real success.
But why were Aichi's targets not achieved? Is the preparatory mechanism decided at COP14 in Egypt commensurate with the challenges of such a negotiation? How to ensure the success of future negotiations in Beijing? What lessons can be learned from the Paris Climate Agreement? What role for France and the European Union? How can economic actors, local authorities and civil society be involved to facilitate negotiations and the implementation of commitments?
A high-level panel will discuss these issues to open up avenues of work by 2020:
- Laurence Tubiana, Ambassador in charge of the COP21 climate negotiations in 2015, current director of the European Climate Foundation,
- Bertrand Bonhomme, Michelin Group Sustainable Development Director,
- Pascal Canfin, Director General of WWF-France,
- Gilles Kleitz, Department Director at the French Development Agency
The round table will be introduced by Audrey Azoulay (to be confirmed), Director General of UNESCO and Jérémie Pellet, Director General of Expertise France. The conclusions and perspectives will be presented by Stefan Leiner, Head of the Biodiversity Unit of DG Environment at the European Commission and Yann Werhling, French Ambassador Delegate for the environment.
An event co-organised by UNESCO, the European Union, Expertise France and Entreprises pour l'environnement in partnership with : AFB, AFD, CNRS, Fondation Biodiversité, IRD, OREE, IDDRI and WWF.
UNESCO contact: m.bouamrane@unesco.org
Expertise France contact: didier.babin@expertisefrance.fr, apolline.calucci@expertisefrance.fr
